New taxes expected to rake in GH¢4 billion annually

By Eugene Davies

Ghana’s lawmakers have approved and passed three critical bills, which is projected to generate a revenue of GH¢4 billion annually as part of domestic revenue mobilization.

The tax bills which were passed late on Friday before the adjournment of parliament in the wee hours of Saturday, sparked resistance from the minority in parliament but government maintained the bills were needed to aid the government’s quest to facilitate the Board Approval for the $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme sta -level agreement.

The bills include Growth and Sustainability Bill,2022, Excise Duty Amendment Bill,2022, Income Tax Amendment (2) Bill,2022.

The Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022 was also passed alongside.

The new taxes will apply to some incomes, companies, cigarettes and drinks.

One of the bills seeks to raise GHc2.2bn, the Growth and Sustainability Bill annually, the Excise Duty Amendment bill,2022 and the scal impact of the bill was to raise monies as a result of taxation on tobacco and other harmful items.

The Excise Duty bill was going to raise over Ghc455m to support the 2023 budget, and the scal impact for the Income tax was close to Ghc1.3bn.

The international and domestic bond markets are shut for the nancing of government programmes, forcing the government to rely on Treasury Bills and concessional loans as the primary sources of nancing for the 2023 scal year.

Government in justifying the introduction of the taxes said they are critical for recovery from the current economic crisis.

Ghana is battling its way out of a generational economic crisis by hiking interest rates at record speeds, cutting spending, and restructuring its debt as a condition to obtain support approval from the IMF's Executive Board.